


Love at First Sight

by isabeau25



Series: Mermaid Rescue and Rehab Inc. [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Merbaby Shiro, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-23 11:36:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14933492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isabeau25/pseuds/isabeau25
Summary: *Bonus Scene* Hunk and Lance take a wrong turn in the basement of the marine biology department and make an important discovery. (The rating is bumped a little again because Shiro is little, and Honerva wasn't gentle with him, but nothing is described, and nothing will be.)





	Love at First Sight

**Author's Note:**

> A prompt from the lovely [ Eastofthemoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eastofthemoon/pseuds/Eastofthemoon%22)

“Lance, this is the wrong way,” Hunk looked nervously over his shoulder down the dimly lit hallway.

“No, no, I’m sure Professor Coran said two rights, and then a left,” Lance said, “second door on the left, no number, because why would you put a number on a storage closet?”

“I still think it was two lefts and a right,” Hunk grumbled.

He was all for doing favors for their beloved academic advisor, but it was almost midnight, and the basement of the marine biology department was creepy in the dark.

“And second door,” Lance said triumphantly, pushing it open, then stopping.

“What?” Hunk crowded over his shoulder to see, “oh, this is a lab. Whose lab is it? I don’t think I’ve ever been in here.”

“Don’t know,” Lance stepped into the room and flipped on the lights.

“Lance!” Hunk hissed, “you can’t just walk into someone’s lab. We’ll get in trouble.”

“I just want to see who it belongs to,” Lance waved away his concern, “and maybe what they’re researching. All the professors have such cool research focuses.”

“Yeah, but…” Hunk trailed off as he caught sight of all the holding tanks.

They were full of all sorts of strange sea creatures, mostly eels and squid, and a very weird looking shark about the size of a large cat. The tanks could have been cleaner, and honestly, none of the animals looked that healthy.

“This must be Honerva’s lab,” Lance muttered as he pushed farther into the room, ducking around piles of equipment and stacks of empty tank, “she was doing all that research on the regenerative property of squids, wasn’t she?”

“Dude, if this is her lab, then we need to leave,” Hunk pulled his hands into his chest nervously, “she’s super scary.”

“She’s not here,” Lance said dismissively, “anyway, you can’t believe everything you…”

Lance trailed off, freezing in place, and Hunk ran into his back.

“What…?” he followed Lance’s line of sight and gulped, “that’s… is that… there’s no way that’s real.”

Lance ignored him, rushing to the tank. Curled in a ball in the corner was what could only be a tiny mermaid, the size of a toddler and shaking as he tried to hide behind his tail.

Lance touched the glass careful, and the merchild flinched, tiny bubbles escaping his mouth. He was obviously terrified. The tank was too small, leaving him with no room to swim, and the water looked like it needed changing.

“That’s a mermaid,” Hunk gasped.

“That’s a baby,” Lance countered, “we need to get him out of here.”

“That…” Hunk looked at the large, frightened grey eyes staring at them over the curled tail, “yeah, okay. Can he even breathe out of water?”

“Let’s find out,” Lance reached carefully into the tank with both hands, holding them out to the merboy the way he would to one of his younger siblings, “come on little guy, let’s get you out of there.”

The merboy stared for a long moment, then reached out tentatively with his left hand to touch Lance’s fingers. When Lance stayed still, the little fingers wrapped slowly around his. Lance pulled him towards him slowly until he could lift him under the arms, stopping every time he started to squirm. He lifted him out of the water to the waist and paused to gauge his reaction.

“What happened to his arm?” Hunk swallowed, eying what was left of the merboy’s right arm queasily; at least it seemed healed.

The boy whimpered and gripped at Lance’s wrist with his left hand.

“We can figure it out later,” Lance said dismissively; he could feel the merbaby’s ribs expanding with his breaths, “don’t worry, kiddo. We won’t hurt you. Can you breathe out of water?”

“Lance, I don’t know if he can understand you,” Hunk frowned, “but he seems like…”

The boy nodded his head and made a distressed whistling sound, almost like a distraught dolphin.

“Whoa,” Hunk’s eyes wend wide, “he can understand us.”

“We need to get him out of here,” Lance leaned against the edge of the tank, pulling the child close to his chest.

“Right,” Hunk started looking around the lab, “we need something to wrap him in. Even if he can breathe air, we need to keep him wet.”

Hunk dug through stacks of equipment and random piles of gear until he found a blanket thrown in with a pile of scuba gear. He snatched it up and dunked it into the tank the merboy was in, soaking it thoroughly.

“Alright, buddy,” Hunk said softly, “we’re just going to wrap you up nice and snuggly and get you out of here.”

The boy squirmed a bit, squeaking and whistling unhappily. Hunk cooed to him as he and Lance juggled the boy between them so they could wrap him up in the wet blanket, then Lance lifted him out of the tank, holding him close and tucking his head under his chin.

“I can’t believe we’re stealing a mermaid,” Hunk hurried in front of Lance, opening the door for him.

“Saving,” Lance corrected, “we’re saving a merbaby.”

“Right,” Hunk agreed hastily, peeking out the door to check that the halls were still empty, “right, that’s what we’re doing.”

As they stepped out into the hall, the merboy reached up to wrap his arm around Lance’s neck.

“Everything’s going to be okay now, cuddle fish,” Lance cradled the boy’s head against his shoulder. The boy let out a long sigh and relaxed against Lance, “we’re going to take care of you.”


End file.
